Schicksalsjahre (2011)

The talented pianist Ursula and Wolfgang meet in a cabaret. They fall in love, but during World War II Wolfgang is drafted. Ursula returns to her parents in Danzig with their two children. While on leave from the front, Wolfgang visits his family on the Baltic coast in the summer of 1943, but it is to be their last meeting. Two years later, Ursula receives news that Wolfgang has been killed in action. During the years of reconstruction, Ursula has little opportunity to grieve. After fleeing Danzig, she finds work in Rostock and brings home the bare necessities for her children, and later for her parents as well. She puts her own interests aside and fights unwaveringly to survive. In East Germany, Ursula experiences repression of political dissenters—she cannot accept this conception of socialism. She befriends the vivacious Norah, who performs as a singer for the Soviet army. The two women begin to dream of escaping to the West. They succeed in escaping and begin building a new life for themselves and the children. But when Norah gets an engagement at the Mainz Opera, they begin arguing more and more often. Ursula feels rejected as a musician and mourns her great love. She realizes that things will never again be as they were during the happiest time of her life.